None of my babies have ever arrived before their due dates, so I wasn’t surprised to hit 40 weeks with my fourth pregnancy. Since my last baby was chunky (9lbs 10oz) they sent me for a weight scan at 39 weeks. At 39 weeks they estimated my son to be 8lbs 13oz. They said I could safely go to 41 weeks, because even if he gained a pound he would be similar in size to my last baby and I was able to deliver her vaginally without any issues. So at 41 weeks I go in to be induced. My midwife is a little worried because baby still hadn’t dropped and was sitting high at -3 station. I also hadn’t dilated more than 1cm. So we start pitocin at 10am and by 6pm I was only at 2cm and baby hadn’t moved at all. I was given the option to stay for the night and keep going, or come back in two days to try again. We went with the second option because I didn’t want to risk having the baby overnight while my husband wasn’t there. No one, including my midwife, expected me not to have a quick labor since all of my labors have been 6 hours or less start to finish, so my husband and I didn’t even make overnight plans for our other three kiddos.

So we go back in 2 days determined to stay for as long as it took to get him out. Started pitocin again at 10am and by 6pm I was sitting at 5cm and he was still -1 station. By this point though my contractions were excruciating. I hate pitocin and it truly is made from the devil himself. My last delivery was pitocin free and it was easy peasy. I walked into the hospital laughing etc and was 7cm. With pitocin I made it to 5cm before I started screaming in agony. The midwife-in-training kept telling me to moan as opposed to scream, and I basically told her to knock me unconscious because I couldn’t handle the pain anymore. This was so much different than my other labors. Finally I got the epidural, but because I was so swollen from all of the IV fluids it took him about 10 minutes to finally get it all going. The hardest thing I have ever done was sit still during the contractions while he got the epidural in.

After the epidural started working I fell asleep for 2 hours. When I woke up I felt pressure so they checked me and I was finally 10cm and at +1 station so it was time to push. I pushed for almost 2 hours and baby boy made zero progress. They could see his head trying to get down but he would get to a certain place and then wiggle, but wouldn’t move down. The ob on call came in and said that we could keep trying to push, but she was beginning to think that there was a reason he couldn’t get down and recommended a c section. By this point it was past 11pm and I was so over it. I went for the c section and it was scary and surreal. I had 3 successful vaginal deliveries before and no one prepared me for the possibility of a c section.

Once he was born though it became clear I was never going to push him out. George was born 11lbs 8oz and 23 inches long. His head was 15cm. He simply was not going to fit into my pelvis! Even though he is big in size, he really isn’t even chubby at all! He’s just so freaking long. He is the size of a 4 month old! I didn’t have GD or any other health issues. My brother was 25 1/2 inches at birth with a big head too, so I guess Georgie takes after his uncle.

C section recovery has suuuuuucked and I commend all women who have a c section and then go back for another baby knowing they’ll have to have a section again. I could never handle this recovery a second time and I am looking forward to feeling like myself again. Georgie has three big sisters at home and will be spoiled rotten by all of them.